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Show ALASKAN TOWN ASKS CONGRESS TO AID RAILWAY ANCHORAGE. Alaska, May 25. (Br ! Mail) Only a few years ago Anchor-agc Anchor-agc was non existent. The trovern-ment's trovern-ment's Alaska railroad was a fanciful project, At the close of the last regular reg-ular session of congress, when the ra il -road a pproprlal ion failed along with other items, things again took on a' dingy hue in what is now a thriving t ' i v n The slender ribbons of steel that have boldly dared to pierce a vast v. ild' mess ol Ice and snow appeared doomed to a life of rust. Now, withj the money necessary to carry on the, work all but actually authorized. An- chorage, through Its chamber of commerce, com-merce, asks i-o i nited States at large; to ievv a-peets of the gre.it work already al-ready accomplished Less than three ears ago the first train was run over the Anchorage dl-I vision Since then nearly 100,000 pas- sengers and 50.000 tons of freight , have been handled over the rails. The1 liv'ision comprises 280 miles of rail-j rail-j road, beginning near the north end of! the Alaska Northern railway and ex- tending to the summit of the Alaska range Track has been laid and operated oper-ated over 11 miles of main line ia far north as Talkeeina and 38 miles Of branch line all exclusive of track mileage in yards and sidings Thirty more miles of roadbed are ready for the rails Six miles of wooden bridges have been built and 2400 acre of right-of-waj cleared and grubbed. Over 8,000,-1 000 cubic yards of solid rock and near-, ! ly 6,000.000 cubic yards of other material mater-ial have been moved. Just to bring supplies and outfits to the workers' ' traps, 23ti miles of trails and 195 miles. Of wagOD roads have been built, with 350 miles of telegraph and telephone lines Over 200 buildings were erect-j cd just for railroad employes and sup-plies. sup-plies. Coal mines were opened at Eska ' reek and chickaloon by the Alaskan Engineering commission, builders of the railroad and in two years 9i i.OoO tons of coal have been mined and shipped. At Anchorage wharves and docks were built over which 20.000 passen-j .ml l.vn.oiio ton'- of fr'-iL-hi have been handled in three yeara Water tanks, pumping plants, mains, sewers and a hundred other necessary ad-jum ad-jum have sprung into being. In thee three years, three town-have town-have been laid out along this division, with 143 ac res of land cleared, clear-ed, ten miles of graded 6treets, five miles of wooden ami one and one fourth mile-; of cement sidewalks laid. The townaltefl are Anchorage, Matan-uska Matan-uska and Wasilla Tayment for all the modern improvements given these em-bryo em-bryo tow ns was not from Uncle Sam's treasury, but from the sales of lots and bv assessment. in Anchorage alone all a result of the railroad there are some 800 privately pri-vately owned stores and residences, besides government buildings, churches, church-es, a school, fire station and the like. Freight that formerh cost more than 25 cents a pound to move by pack train from tidewater nt Anchorage to Chickaloon, costs at present less than one-half cent a pound by railroad, sine,- i he railroad was opened, farmers in the Matanu;ka valley have produc- 1 '1 6000 tons of potatoes and other supplies sup-plies The railroad has tapped in short. 648.1' acres of valuable land rleh In natural resources available for agriculture as well as for mining ' These, the chamber of commerce points out. are a few of the things brought ibout by the coming of str.i These are some of the rpapons given Why the pioneers of nw land'. hav.e hoped the government would not for-gel for-gel the money needed to complete the 'task begun. |